TULIP II

In such a context I would suggest that we always follow this hermeneutical rule: if our reading of Scripture always confirms our worldview and if the Scriptures never surprise, confuse, upset or disorient us, then we are undoubtedly misreading the Scriptures. A sure sign of ideology is when the Bible only functions as a text of orientation in our lives. If this text never disorients us, then it will never then have the resources to provide us with reorientation in changing and confusing cultural contexts.

There is another dimension of this loss of biblical dynamism that merits comment. One of the consequences of an ideological worldview and an ideological approach to the biblical text is that paradoxically the text tends to lose its currency in our lives. Moreover, I have observed that many of those who talk long and loud about biblical authority seldom find it necessary to deeply engage this text. You can see how this works. Once you think that you know what the Bible says, all that is left is to proclaim the authority of the Bible ever loudly. You don’t have to actually read the text or struggle with it because you already know what it is going to say. Sadly, however, what is really proclaimed as authoritative is not the Bible but the ideological worldview that we impose upon this text.

With the loss of biblical vitality, not only does the worldview become repressively ideological, the community also succumbs to biblical illiteracy. And when that happens, the death of the church and the various ministries and cultural expressions of the Christian community, including the Christian school, is not far behind.